Kiph stared at Ralkhara. He did not fear anything anymore. He could not take his eyes off the erstwhile fellow Fatebringer.

Finally tearing himself away, he looked around for a weapon more suitable for the coming onslaught than his dart gun or machete. Looking at Riv and Cormac in turn, he said,

"Give me something to kill them with. When they come..." he trailed off, as Ralkhara's haunted eyes caught his again.

He approached the fatebringer, or what was left of him. "Ralkhara, it is I, Kiph. Do you remember?"

He waited ofr an anwer he wasnt sure would come, and eyed the Great G'Kraun momentarily. Ralkhara was the bieng's slave now, Kiph realized, and these are now our allies.

A bad feeling crept over Kiph. He was convinced no matter what came up from the shaft, and no matter how the bloodfest would go, one thing was now clear. No one here was getting out alive.

"Cormac", he added without turning from Ralkhara's empty stare. "What if I go "up" and comandeer one of those choppers? You know, for when we're ready to get the hell out of Bleakwood." he smiled wanly.

Ah, how I have come to love that sense of accomplishment and victory that I get when I pull the wool over the eyes of a clever player character. What DM Triumphs have you had?

Some of mine:1. Finally killing an incredibly powerful, lucky, annoying player's character.2. Finally achieving a TPK (Total Party Kill)3. Finally achieving a TPK using only traps4. Finally working out how to make it so that d**n wizard doesn't steal the spotlight all the d**n time.

Cormac went to work booby trapping the main lift while Riv fixed the lift shaft. The burning man hippy worked feverishly planting explosives in the shaft. There was a glimmer of light way down in the darkness, almost like a couple of cold, white eyes eyeing him with sadistic amusement.

Am I going mad?, the murderer thought and when he next looked down the eyes were gone.

Cormac had nearly stumbled on one of the corpses, a girl by the look of her. Squatting near the elevator door he rigged the exit. Anyone coming through would surely suffer.

(OOC: Rolls made - No one blew themselves up. Success/failure will be indicated upon triggering)

Meanwhile, inside the cantina, Kiph looked at his former comrade in arms.

"Ralkhara, it is I, Kiph. Do you remember?", he said, then he paused and started with Cormac, who struggled at the end of the corridor.

Ralkhara, the G'Kraun, extended his arm and dropped something into the left palm of the FateBringer.

A sketch...

A map?

As Cormac and Riv returned the G'Kraun Seer spoke in all of their minds.

Calm, my children, be calm. For even though the HUNTER is upon us, we stand strong. I sense the ones above, and I sense their need. They face a hunter too, and they have goods they are dying to secure

At that moment the mail lift started moving.

We stand strong and we shall resist this wave. We shall TEAR OUR ENEMIES TO PIECES, and then we shall escape as brother Ralkhara has planned

Kiph's eyes fell to the sketch. It seems the sketch was of this level, but something wasn't right. There were a stairwell on the sketch, and if it was correct... The stairwell was hidden behind the wall to their left.

As Kiph eyed the wall, the elevator doors slid open with a merry plinging sound, accompanied by the welcome message they heard as they arrived the first time. Piano music waved over the room, but inside the elevator there was nothing, except a mound of corpses.

Humming along with the piano music, Kiph glanced one last time at Ralkhara, and even lovingly wiped some drool from the G'Kraun thrall's mouth. "I miss you Ralkhara" he wispered in between his humming.

Tearing himself away from the Fatebringer-No-More, Kiph raced across to the wall, and picking up the first heavy object he spotted, smashed it against the wall. He then drew his machete and attempted plunging it into the wall as well, hoping it was plaster and not concrete.

"Riv, help me here. There is a staircase beyond this wall!"

and to Cormac, "Give me a weapon! I cannot fight whatever is coming with darts and knives!" then pausing, he considered something for a moment, tilting his head like a rooster in thought. "I dont need to kill em', Cormac" he blurted out, referring to the choppers circling above. "I may not have to."

Ah, how I have come to love that sense of accomplishment and victory that I get when I pull the wool over the eyes of a clever player character. What DM Triumphs have you had?

Some of mine:1. Finally killing an incredibly powerful, lucky, annoying player's character.2. Finally achieving a TPK (Total Party Kill)3. Finally achieving a TPK using only traps4. Finally working out how to make it so that d**n wizard doesn't steal the spotlight all the d**n time.

<OOC: Cool! Coming up with a post in ten hours! In an uncharacteristically weak moment I feel I should say: Remember that the the remotely triggered trap will create an explosion that will be channeled particularly in a certain direction... It would be advisable to take cover. Note to self: Okay, bad AG, don't spoil all your GMing fun! />

Kiph slammed a metal stool into the wall several times, but it would not yield. Or, at least, it would not bend, but the FateBringer noticed that it moved slightly sideways on his fifth slamming with the stool.

Quickly, almost too quick for Kiph's senses, Ralkhara the former PathFinder moved beside his friend of old, and he pushed sideways, his grafted blades resting awkwardly against the wall

At that moment myriad scratching noises was heard inside the freight lift and the corpse mound inside the main lift rose as one, metallic pins hammering into the corpses as they stood up. As one, the corpses moved forward. Several lifted hand guns as they did so.

Behind the sliding wall, Kiph noticed a stairwell. Ralkhara the G'Kraun was already moving up and beckoned for Kiph to follow.

Cormac looked at the lift for a few seconds, his gun at eye level. Every time a hostile came in his sights the satisfying recoil of the large gun made him feel right at home. Aiming for the head, he hoped to see the pink mist that would indicate that his target's brain was now a spray of gore on the lift walls. Five bullets were fired in total. He didn't count the number of 'THUMP' heard as the now truly lifeless bodies hit the ground.

"Well I'll be d**ned." He said flatly, and then a wide sarcastic smile crossed his features in between all the shooting. "Looks like the plot of the last movie I watched."

Turning towards the hidden stair, he sprinted towards them and gestured for Riv to stop shooting and follow. Shouting at the top of his voice, he turned to the fatebringer: "Ok, my dear Badblood. Since you seem to know what you're doing: Up or down?"

Logged

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."-Philip K. Dick

<OOC>Murometz: Kiph needs to reply to Cormac's question. Shall you go up or down?>dark_dragon and valadaar: Are one of you triggering the remote by the main elevator, or would you rather kill the pin head zombies manually?

If any of you want to shoot the zombies, roll 1d100 in the forum dice roller. If you roll beneath your skill level with your weapon, please roll your weapon damage dice.

Remember that the targetting laser gives a massive bonus to the P90.

Lock and load guys, let us get this show on the road again!</OOC>

As Kiph opened the door, some of the G'Kraun began pouring through. From the looks of it it was the least able, those who had been hurt or seemed old and slow.

Ah, how I have come to love that sense of accomplishment and victory that I get when I pull the wool over the eyes of a clever player character. What DM Triumphs have you had?

Some of mine:1. Finally killing an incredibly powerful, lucky, annoying player's character.2. Finally achieving a TPK (Total Party Kill)3. Finally achieving a TPK using only traps4. Finally working out how to make it so that d**n wizard doesn't steal the spotlight all the d**n time.

Kiph could feel the G'Kraun leader urge some of his minions forward. It was as if he and the mutant telepath were bonded in some way, the leader's feelings seeping outwards, affecting those he connected with.

Riv and Cormac stood by the door, small firearms raised when two G'Krauns pushed their shoulders against the door. Another took up position outside the freight elevator, raising his blade arms in an attack posture.

"Come, all, before they overwhelm us! Do not make our brethreeen ssacrifice themselvess uselesssly! Run!", the short G'Kraun Kiph had once known as Ralkhara wheezed, and soon the room was emptying of the leathery mutants, all following Kiph up those hidden stairs.

*************

As Kiph raced up the stairs he eventually came upon the first platform. Huge double doors led into the garage level of the facility, while a narrow, steel stairwell continued some ten meters further up, presumably to the roof of the building.

"Ok, Ladies. Let's get this merry crew on the road, shall we? Badblood, you were saying something about those choppers? You know they'll be heavily guarded right?."

s**t, if it was me, I'd have the choppers locked up so tight we'd have to use nukes.

"Look, I can take off a man's left testicle out at 1500 yards, but you gotta get me a rifle first. I ain't gonna take on a full last gambit platoon with a peashooter." added Cormac while gesturing to his oversized sidearm.

"So, Badblood, what's it gonna be? what does your ... friend say? Should Riv and I check out the garage while you head out to the roof? Or do we stick together, climb the stairway to heaven and pray for the best?"

« Last Edit: February 22, 2010, 01:03:15 PM by dark_dragon »

Logged

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."-Philip K. Dick

"Get into cover!", Riv yelled to the three remaining G'Kraun. Kiph and Cormac had already left the room, running up that secret stairwell.

One of the G'Kraun stupidly took shelter behind the double swing doors, and as the room erupted into infernal chaos, the blast of the explosion threw the doors open, sending the G'Kraun flying through the room. Fraction of a second later scorching flames licked hungrily through the doorway, almost like the desperate arms of some fiery giant, frantically reaching for someone, anyone, to caress with it's scorching fingers. Riv watched in fascination as the G'Kraun toppled several cantina tables and chairs, before it finally slid to a halt some six meters away. When it got back up, in spite of it's burns and injuries, Riv's jaws dropped open.

The cantina doors had been blasted off it's hinges, and when Riv looked through the doorway he noticed that hallway was now pasted with chunks of meat and dripping "red sauce". All the doors had been blasted in and the elevator was scorched black. Small flames still licked across some of the corpse remains and the blood on the wall.

Turning around Riv watched the G'Kraun by the freight elevator being thrown straight across the room, and into the very same hallway he had just scanned. The G'Kraun slid through the blood, intestines and skull fragments, steel pins now embedded deeply in it's chest and skull. Slowly small blue arcs of electricity began jumping from one pin to another.

Riv ran up the stairs, and a couple of seconds after leaving the room he heard the clatter of metal and stomping of feet as something huge entered the cantina below.

"So, Badblood, what's it gonna be? what does your ... friend say? Should Riv and I check out the garage while you head out to the roof? Or do we sticking together, climb the stairway to heaven and pray for the best?".

Cormac's words were partially drowned by the horrid screams of the G'Kraun below.

Kiph turned back to stare at Cormac for a moment and heard himself answering the man, though it sounded like the voice was not his own----"To heaven!"

Yes, he thought, to heaven, he knew it meant up, to the roof, and to the roaring helicopters, but Kiph was not familiar with the word itself. Heaven. Heaven. He repeated a few more times as he glided up the stairs, just as an explosion sounded below and gunfire erupted. He could hear Riv shouting something now but could not understand the gist of the lunatic's frantic ravings. Then he could hear the roar of the G'Kraun, and it chilled his bones, as he continued running and climbing.

Ah, how I have come to love that sense of accomplishment and victory that I get when I pull the wool over the eyes of a clever player character. What DM Triumphs have you had?

Some of mine:1. Finally killing an incredibly powerful, lucky, annoying player's character.2. Finally achieving a TPK (Total Party Kill)3. Finally achieving a TPK using only traps4. Finally working out how to make it so that d**n wizard doesn't steal the spotlight all the d**n time.

Listening to the sounds of the fighting G'Kruan below, Cormac felt a chill go down his back.

Having started racing up the stairs as soon as Kiph had given the word, he paused at the noise and cursed. "@!#$ me. That really doesn't sound good."

Kneeling down, he opened the backpack containing the laptop and the stolen weaponry, and handed one of the stolen M9 pistols to Kiph. "I hope you know how to use this, boy." Turning down the stair to the upcoming Riv, Cormac bellowed "Come on Riv, Move it!" Why the hell had he left his ticket out of here down there on his own anyway.

As soon as Riv was within sight, Cormac started running at full pace up the stair towards the roof, and hopefully, salvation. But then again, Cormac didn't really believe in salvation.

"Now let's get the hell outa here!"

<ooc>I presume its fine with everybody that I carried the gear in the backpack?</ooc>

« Last Edit: February 23, 2010, 06:13:13 AM by dark_dragon »

Logged

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."-Philip K. Dick

<OOC> I am unsure as to what Riv is doing. Is he staying down there to witness the fire and the coming of the Hunter, or is he running up the stairs? I am moving the game forward, but I will come with another post after Riv's actions are clearer to me. For now I describe what I believe to be his actions. I can modify that later, no prob.</OOC>

<OOC> With the laser sight, Riv's submachinegun skill is 76. The head is small, so he gets a -10 penalty to his roll. However, the target is unmoving, so he gains +10 to his skill. He rolled 64. A hit. Each bullet does 1d8 damage, and Kiph fired a burst of 3 rounds. As valadaar did not include those 3d8, I will roll them for him</OOC>

[blockquote]Rolled 3d8 : 8, 6, 5, total 19[/blockquote]

Riv lifted his P90 submachinegun, and as soon as the green laser rested on the forehead he squeezed the trigger, releasing a burst of bullets. The effect was as grisly as it was effective; the cranium burst open and fragments splattered everywhere.

On instinct he began running, but halted once he was twenty steps up the stair. Fire and destruction needed a witness, or it was all for naught

With morbid fascination the burning man hippy squatted in the stairwell, his eyes gleaming as the two remaining G'Kraun were forcibly levitated into the air and throttled at great speed into the wall. When myriad hovering steel pins appeared in front of the howling mutants, Riv leaned forward. He was going to enjoy this.

Cormac handed Kiph a hand gun, but Riv was still a no show. They heard running steps far, far down, but they quickly stopped and then came the screaming.

Once again the G'Kraun surged forward, Kiph's instructions guiding them: Up, up, to the heavens, to the skies!

Man and G'Kraun alike sprinted up the stairwell and a minute later they erupted on the roof.

What a disappointment. Nothing. No one. Empty.

Kiph stared around, and soon his gaze was drawn to the Fangs of Divine Despair, the glass covered skyscrapers that flanked the gateway to the star port. Unbeknownst to them, the Fangs had once housed the administration of the Born & Wallace Correction Group, their BW logos still dotting the Bleak Wood cityscape.

Now many of the glass panels of the skyscrapers had been broken, and many more were overwhelmingly dirty; the shine of the fangs was long gone. Now the towers more resembled the rotting fangs of some gruesome creature, which was why Protector Khamazein dubbed them "The Fangs of Divine Despair" all those years ago.

Cormac marvelled at the fangs, just like Kiph and the G'Kraun did. Not because of the Fangs themselves, they had seen them more times than they cared to remember. No, the northern tower was ablaze, a hellish inferno devouring the lower levels with rapacious desire. On some of the uppermost levels they could see, and hear, occasional gunfire. Suspended in mid air, outside the towers, were four huge birds of metal, and from their noses came a steady stream of white fire, lavishing the low and mid levels of the north tower in a lethal barrage of searing hot metal rounds.

It was only when Ralkhara, the mutant nomad who was once a Pathfinder, tapped their shoulders, that Cormac and Kiph noticed the small group of people in the streets. They seemed like survivors, Bleak Wood city folk who had ganged together and now made their way to the gates, the place where Tent Town had once been.